THE REINDEER AND ITS PURSUIT 
a trifle monotonous, and the comfort of the stone hut for once all that could 
be desired; so that I was induced to spend the pleasant days in sketching, 
reading thrilling tales of flood and field, and practising my indifferent 
Norse. It was now just a pleasant little holiday of rest and refreshment 
with reindeer only as an obscure possibility. The days wore on until the 
12th, and I began to get things together prior to departure when, just after 
daylight, Henrik, Ole’s son, suddenly dashed in, upsetting everything in 
the doorway, to say that five big bucks were at the moment galloping along 
the ridge above the hut. 
I had just time to get my glass on them, before they disappeared from 
view, and ascertain that the little troup consisted of four small and one 
very large stag with good horns. There was just a chance that they might 
settle in one of the corries to the west. If I had been twenty -five I should have 
rushed after them at once, but, being nearly double that age, I sat down and 
had a good breakfast, with the recollection of a certain morning in New- 
foundland, when, without having taken food, I ran two miles to cut a travel- 
ling stag and fainted in consequence. 
Thus well prepared, Ole and I sallied forth to try and track the travel- 
lers. We soon picked up the spoor on the ridge and followed it with ease 
for three miles or so, although the ground was very dry. The stags had 
been galloping all the time and had doubtless been disturbed that very 
morning away to the north, so we knew that we were in for a long if not 
desperate chase. 
The deer led us into some rough ground, too rough and stony, in fact, 
even for these hardy mountaineers to traverse in comfort, and here the 
tracks became difficult to follow. We should, I think, have lost them had 
not Ole cleverly spied where the game had crossed a snow-brae about half 
a mile ahead. For this we made in all haste and soon got on to good track- 
ing ground again, after crossing a range of hills. The deer were now 
walking, and I proceeded cautiously, often stopping to spy, and this 
policy at last had its reward in my picking up the five stags just as they 
topped another ridge about a mile ahead. We now hurried on to the spot 
where we had last seen them and, looking carefully into the next valley, 
I at once saw the deer lying down on a steep slope of loose stones facing 
us. 
The big stag had his mouth open, for the pace at which he had travelled 
seemed to have had some effect upon him. I hoped, therefore, they would 
continue to rest in this spot whilst we made a wide circuit to head them 
305 
RR 
